Here's to you, Gary Bettman (wince!)

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TED WYMAN -- Winnipeg Sun

Oct 8, 2005

, Last Updated: 12:47 PM ET

It's about time.

About time for me to do something I thought I'd never do. Not in a million years.

Give kudos to Gary Bettman (wince!).

Often referred to in these pages as a cross between Lord Voldemort, Darth Sidius and Viktor Tikhonov, the diminutive NHL commissioner finally did something that could well keep him out of the villains' hall of fame.

Little Man Gary came up big.

He promised a salary cap and he delivered. He promised a level playing field for Canadian and small market American teams and he delivered. He used time during the lockout wisely, spearheading rule changes which were destined to make the NHL game stronger.

After a year away from the world, the NHL has been reborn and is likely to be better than ever. The games are more entertaining, scoring is likely to increase and, best of all, an entire generation of clutchers and grabbers are about to find themselves a new style of play or else find themselves out of work.

This new NHL may even eventually include Winnipeg again, if some analysts are to be believed.

So while we can still blame Bossman Bettman for taking the league to the abyss, for putting it into such a grave financial predicament that it needed to take a year off to restructure, for allowing goaltending equipment and coaching techniques to ruin the game and for not enforcing rules on the ice, we have to give him credit for getting it right.

Good job Gary (wince!).

It's about time.

MORE BACK SLAPPIN:' While we're handing out unlikely praise, here's some for Danny Barrett and Roy Shivers. A month ago we were wondering if the 3-6 Saskatchewan Roughriders might finally want to pull the plug on their loud-mouth coach-and-GM dynamic duo. Today, the 'Riders are 8-6, are looking like Grey Cup contenders and no doubt plans are in the works to build statues of Barrett and Shivers that are higher than the tallest building in Regina. Of course, that isn't saying much ... Here's a little known fact: The Blue Bombers season is actually still going on. Imagine that ... You get the feeling the suddenly-slumping B.C. Lions might wish the season had ended a couple of weeks ago as well ... So how many people are going to show up at the Bomber game on Monday and after getting a look at those natty third uniforms? Think they've won The Sun's Search For Gold contest? ... Juan Gonzalez told U.S. Congress he never had the slightest hint that Rafael Palmeiro was using steroids during the 10 years they were teammates with the Texas Rangers. Of course, that's not accounting for the 700 games Gonzalez missed with hammy pulls ... What a rough start to the season for the Toronto Maple Leafs. They lost their captain to injury, allowed two late goals against the Ottawa Senators and became the first team in history to fail to record a shot on goal in a shootout. The best thing that can be said about the efforts of Eric Lindros and Jason Allison in the shootout is at least neither of them fell down and suffered a concussion ... Boston Red Sox second baseman Tony Graffanino must not have heard. The curse is supposed to have ended ... If it takes 162 games to decide who gets into the playoffs, how can Major League Baseball possibly justify having only a five-game series to decide the first round? If they'd just make it seven games at least the Atlanta Braves' post-season would last one or two extra games a year.

IT AIN'T RIGHT: The Phoenix Coyotes will unretire the No. 9 Bobby Hull wore with the Winnipeg Jets and give it to Brett Hull this weekend. What you just, felt Jets fans, was an old-fashioned slap in the face ... Things for Michelle Wie to do on her 16th birthday: Get driver's licence, try out new Playstation game, try on new diamond-encrusted white gold dangly earrings, buy own golf course, hang out with all the other 16-year-olds in her school who have $10 million in their bank accounts ... After what seemed like a much more competitive regular season in baseball, six of the eight teams in the playoffs are the same ones that were there last year. And yes, all eight are in the top 15 teams in terms of payroll. As long as money talks in baseball, that's not going to change ... By the way boss, I can't come in today. I broke a rib while celebrating the return of NHL hockey.